Working with NOLAI

Step 1 | question

We periodically tour the Netherlands to collect questions from the education sector: what smart technology does education need? What would really help teachers and students? It often takes several meetings with our co-creation managers to get to the heart of the matter: what answers this question within the context of schools, and can be accomplished with NOLAI in a one to three year long project?

Step 2 | plan

We assess the questions we collect from education using our reference framework. Which questions create the most opportunities for applying smart technology, with the lowest risk and have the greatest positive effect on teachers and students? We then delve deeper into the prioritised questions, together with relevant schools, academics and relevant businesses. We work on a concrete project proposal and plan in several sessions.

Step 3 | concept

Can the project start? Congratulations! First, we work on a pedagogical-didactic draft together. What exactly does the teacher want to know about students’ learning processes? And what is known already or available on the market about this? Here too, we always prioritise the link between schools, academia and the business community to arrive at clear design guidelines as soon as possible. The development of the new technology, the technical phase, only comes after that.

Step 4 | prototype

On paper, the draft and design may fit seamlessly with the school’s needs, but how does it work in practice? Teachers and students engage with a prototype for short periods of time. New insights are incorporated after each period to improve the prototype. The exact way this works is different for every project. In any case, the approach is always more a process of collaboration with the school, academics and one or more businesses.

Step 5 | validation

After several rounds of improvement, the time has come to validate the prototype. Does the technology developed always do what it is meant to do, even when it is used by different people and preferably in different schools? We ask teachers and pupils questions, and we analyse data on the learning process. Using this approach, we evaluate user-friendliness, usability and effectiveness together, using qualitative and quantitative research. We process the results in a report.

Step 6 | market

Smart technology has been developed, field-tested and validated. Where do we go from there? What does it take to turn the technology we developed into a product that can enter the education market and who must be involved? We make scaling-up plans whenever we see opportunities.